So this is Christmas

I think I've become addicted to flying first class. During one flight over the summer I upgraded to first class. It was an overnight trip and I wanted the extra room. And it was awesome. I can rarely eat the food, I have enough leg room in economy class, but having the extra room is just so nice. And the service and pampering is pretty awesome.

When I booked my flight to Iowa for Christmas I looked at upgrading but it was $1200. Screw that. When I checked in, the cost to upgrade had dropped to $150. Totally worth it. I did the same on the return flight. Thing is, I try to be the person who doesn't look like it is their first time in first class, but I always do. On my return flight I spilled food on myself, I couldn't work the tray table, and so on and so forth. So you can take the girl out of economy but you can't take the economy out of the girl.

Anyway... On to my annual Christmas wrap-up post.

Yes, I flew first class. It rocked. The flight to Iowa was uneventful. It was the redeye and pretty calm and laid back. The flight attended what I wanted to drink:

Me: Jack Daniels.
Flight Attendant: With....?
Me: Ice.

And then my seatmate, who had requested red wine changed her order to Jack on the rocks because, as the flight attended said, it was the perfect drink for that night (late, rainy, cool).

I have taken the redeye flight lots and lots of times and normally once I get to where I am going I will take a nap, grab a shower and be good to go. This time the flight left earlier than normal and I arrived in O'Hare earlier than normal. For some reason that screwed with me and I never recovered. As the family left for Christmas Eve mass, I was face down on the couch, out like a light.

Christmas was fine. I gave all the kidlets gift cards because they are at the age where they want cash (or its equivalent). I'm cool with that. I got knitting stuff. And a book about the Midwest. And it's awesome.

While my brother and sister-in-law did stuff with the other side of their family, I stayed home and read Gone Girl. Holy shit. I mean seriously, holy shit. It was so good I want to forget everything about it so I can go back and read it again for the first time. I mean... just, wow.

I saw my BFF. We weren't able to swing more than a few hours for coffee/lunch as she was passing through town, but as always, it was great to see her. I also met her daughter. Technically I met her daughter when she was about a year and a half old, but you know, kids grow up. Now she's seven and pretty great. She walked into my brother's house, saw the American Girl dolls, the kids her age, and made herself at home. BFF and I went out, and by the time welcome back, BFF's kid had pretty much settled in. I think she would've stayed forever if she'd been given the option. But BFF's kid was smart, quick witted, and pretty great. Job well done, BFF, well done.

Speaking of BFF, during the trip to the Midwest, I heard Feliz Navidad three or four times. I really wanted to record it and send it to BFF since she loves that song to much. And by "love" I mean hate. Instead, after opening presents on Christmas Eve I asked my nieces to sing the chorus. I recorded it and texted it to BFF. She loved it. Well, not really. But I loved it.

Normally, I get time away from the kidlets with my mom and we eats lots of good vegan food, go yarn shopping and all that; unfortunately, because of mom's schedule, it didn't happen this year. Instead I spent a week with four kids on winter break. Not only were they on winter break, my brother was working and my sister-in-law was at her wit's end (or as she explained, the kids could not go back to school soon enough). Mom did come over one night so that the grown ups could have a night out where we ate sushi and drank strong drinks and good beer.

Oh, and there was a football game. Packers-Vikings. I'm a Packers fan (duh) while my brother, the poor bastard, is a Vikings fan. And this game had meaning to multiple teams and fans. The Bears could make it into the playoffs they beat the Lions and the Packers beat the Vikings. The Vikings could make it into the playoffs if the Bears lost to the Lions. If the Bears won, the Vikings would need to beat the Packers. They Packers were already in the playoffs, but if they won they got a first round bye and be second seed. If the lost, they would be third seed and not get a week off.

The Bears won and the Packers lost. So... the Bears did not make the playoffs. All of this meant that the Bears (and their fans) needed to pull for the Packers. Not something they like to do. I watched the game with a Vikings fan and a Bears fan. Afterwards, I spent the evening with a group of Bears fans and heard a lot of, "We did our part, why couldn't you do yours?" And, "The Packers lost on purpose just to fuck over the Bears." My answer to all of this? The Bears still suck.

Seen in O'Hare on December 24. Not sentiment normally expressed in Chicago. 

I flew out on New Year's Eve. I do this on purpose because it's usually calm and quite. I was delayed out of Iowa. I had arrived at the airport early (where I got stuck in line behind a family of five travelling overseas with at least ten pieces of luggage) and was asked if I wanted to go out on the earlier flight. Nah, I was fine with my orignal flight. An hour later (and 30 minutes after the earlier flight left), my flight was delayed from 11:00 until 2:00, getting into O'Hare just before 3:00. Being a native Midwesterner, I know to leave a lengthy layover when traveling during winter (although this delay was mechanical), this would allow me 45 minutes to get to my next flight. Not a huge deal, but I had to change terminals, and I knew there would be the chance that the crew on my first flight could time-out. Luckily, the flight left earlier than it's delayed departure time and the crew hauled ass to get the flight boarded and going as soon as possible. I made it to O'hare with time to spare.

From there on out, it was chill. I took the shuttle north. I called a cab from the shuttle and was so tired I couldn't figure out of to turn the speaker phone off on my phone; yes, I was *that* moron. I made it home, found out the kittens had almost doubled in size since I left and promptly fell asleep.

Happy New Year.